Mixed-gender Prayer In N.y. Angers Muslims In Mideast

The World - In Brief

March 20, 2005

CAIRO, Egypt -- Muslims in the Middle East on Saturday angrily denounced a mixed-gender Islamic prayer service led by a woman in New York as a violation of their religion. Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, led the service Friday before a congregation of 80 to 100 men and women at Synod House at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, an Episcopal church. The Egyptian newspaper Al-Messa reported the service on its front page with the emphatic headline: "They are tarnishing Islam in America!" It referred to Wadud as "the deranged woman."